New Zealand Conservative

Terry Chimes (second from Left) with Punk-rock band, The Clash The Catholic Herald has a great article about Terry Chimes, erstwhile drummer for The Clash and other bands, who describe his return to Catholicism. In his autobiography, The Strange Case of Doctor Terry and Mr Chimes, baptised Catholic Terry Chimes, who drummed on The Clash’s eponymous debut album and toured with the band in the early 1980s, writes about his journey back to the Catholic faith. Chimes describes stumbling across a copy of CS Lewis’s book Mere Christianity at a car boot sale in 1998 and reading about Lewis’s analysis of the sin of pride. Chimes said: “There was a chapter entitled The Great Sin. The great sin is pride, the tendency we all have to think we are better than someone else. I had always known that pride existed but wondered why it’s referred to as the great sin. That was until I realised the significance of pride as an obstacle to spiritual growth. “The problem with pride is that those...

Torch Song : Shine on me. Needs a good sound system.

On the eve of its 10th birthday , the online music store is dangerously close to running out of music. "In 10 years, we've had 25 billion songs downloaded, and our stock control clerk has advised we are now running extremely low. There may only be another million downloads left in store before the disks run dry." said a spokesperson for Apple. "We are just checking the spare USB drives to see if we've missed any." Unfortunately for Apple, it seems like the majority of the remaining songs are not particularly popular. For example, stocks remain high of 'Some girls dance (with women)' by JC Chasez, and a version of Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire' by Carlos Santana on a banjo. "We ran out of 'Stairway to Heaven' three days ago, and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' yesterday. We are just crossing our fingers no-one else tries to click on those links." Apple also have two downloads left of Michael Bolton...

Dave Mustaine from Megadeth on becoming Christian, and his distrust of Obama and the current US Administration. Interestingly, it seems like Alice Cooper (who has been a Christian for a few years) may have helped influence him.

And that people really liked it. Hah! What did they know? A Valentines day post for your amusement.

It is clear to me that the world is in deep deep trouble - we are on the edge of a precipice and as has always been the case in the past when big troubles are on the horizon the vast majority close their eyes to the threat and continue on in blissful ignorance. Those that see and issue warnings are often mocked and scorned. There is a name for this, such people are Cassandras, after Cassandra who fated to foresee the future but never to be believed. She warned of the fall of Troy. After it fell she was taken as a concubine by Agamemnon and eventually murdered by Agamemnon's wife. Winston Churchill was a prime example of a Cassandra in action during the thirties. Be that as it may this is called " Oh No the Night " or sometimes " Stenka Razin's dream " (1) . It is about bad dreams that foretell the doom of the dreamer (Stenka Razin).   (1) Stenka Razin was a Volga pirate. The tune from another song about him, " Stenka Razin " became the Seeke...

A World War 2 classic that is the genesis of the English phrase " on a wing and a prayer ". A big hit way back in the dark dark days of 1943. It was sung by Ry Cooder many moons ago and it is from his version this one has been derived I'd guess. This might be a Runglish version I suppose you could say

Somewhen in the distant future, perhaps as distant as the year 2014, sugar is an illegal substance, and possession of such is almost a capital crime. So it was portrayed by Judge Dredd, of 2000AD comic fame in " The Line " and other Judge Dredd stories written back in the 80's. Tony Falkenstein thinks starting with a 20% tax on the wicked white powder is the way to go. MacDoctor explains in more rational terms why it is a bad idea: Sugar Sickness . Why do so many (progressives*?) think that there isn't a problem that cannot be solved by a new tax and the strong arm of government? Sweet dreams are made of these, who am I to disagree? Travel the world and the seven seas Everybody's looking for something Some of them want to use you Some of them want to get used by you Some of them want to abuse you Some of them want to be abused * Maybe Tony can drop in and explain his political stance to satisfy my curiosity on why people reach for the IRD when ...

A small reminder of a once great Nation

I have absolutely no idea what bought this song to my mind today, none at all .

Election day and I was going to post about a significant non issue but then I realized it might be construed as being in violation of Paragraph (g) of Section 197(1) of the Electoral Act - even if unintentionally. So instead and to be completely on the safe side, what do you think of Tanya Tagaq's music?

Off topic a bit here. This is a bit of a music review. You may or may not have heard of the Beach Boys legendary unfinished album 'SMiLE' that was supposed to be released in 1967. At that time, some of the rock press of the day (Cheetah magazine etc) had heard the album and hyped it as the next big thing. Some of the group though, didn't like it, apparently, and the project (the vision of the group's main composer, Brian Wilson) was left abandoned. Various songs have come out over the years on different albums, and the 1993 boxset 'Good Vibrations' featured a SMiLE suite. Brian even released a finished version of the album back in 2004, but the sessions themselves with the original Beach Boys singing on them have only been released in bootleg form - MANY, MANY bootlegs. Wilson himself described the album at the time as 'a teenage symphony to God'. Capital have just released the sessions, however, on November the 1st with the Beach Boys blessing. ...

Alexey Arkhipovsky plays "The Road Home". Watch, listen and be amazed and then you maybe you'll have one answer for HomePaddock's Thursday's Quiz - or then again maybe not but you could give it a go anyway.

He lost his gig with ESPN for what he said about Obama. Now he has struck back with "Keep the change". Lyrics below the fold.

Bit of a tempest in a teacup over the Otago University Students Association's decision to sell their radio station if they can and shut it down if they can't. In an extraordinary act of " I'll hold my breath until I turn blue if you don't ... " vengence the manager of the said station took it off the air last Saturday and will keep it off the air for a week. And guess what - no student radio available in Dunedin in this week and yet the world is still turning. How many citizens of that great metropolis even noticed I wonder? Various artists have been enlisted to support Sean Norling, the manager of said enterprise, who believes his station is crucial, crucial you understand to get visiting artists to come to Dunedin. Balderdash what is crucial to performers performing in Dunedin or anywhere else for that matter is that people buy enough tickets to cover the costs and to hopefully provide some remuneration for the performers on top of that. Graeme D...

So claimed the boy who sent me this. Well who am I to argue. This is magical music from Khakassia, Southern Siberia. It will totally surprise you if you haven't ever heard overtone singing before.

The Culture Vulture has a very cool clip of a great guitar solo in the style of Trance music. I thought I'd return the favour of great guitar solos with this absolute experience by Tommy Emmanuel - an aboriginal story of a boy's journey to manhood, as told from white fella to black fella. If it's not your thing, try to hang in there for at least 4 minutes. If you thought it was worth it, please leave a comment. I've seen Tommy Emmanuel perform this live twice, and both times were simply incredible. I still remember with clarity the time I first saw this performance, and was gob-smacked. It was a clear sky, perfect kind of day that Sydney is used to, and I was with friends at an open air concert in the Sydney botanical gardens, and life was very good. In amongst the relaxed crowds doing their thing, with half an ear to the talent, this! I can't give you that atmosphere, but here's a strong hint. Enjoy, and in the words of Tommy - "Don't be s...

And deservedly so in a feel good story of the day. Cyprus' Orthodox Christian Church on Thursday thanked former Culture Club singer Boy George for returning an icon of Christ that it says was stolen from a church in the breakaway north of the divided island. Boy George agreed to return the 18th century icon he bought from a London art dealer in 1985 after being presented with proof of its true origin, the church said in a statement posted on its Web site. "Before this, I had no idea who Boy George was," Brussels-based Bishop Porfyrios who led efforts for the icon's recovery told The Associated Press. "He was positive about returning the icon." The church said it was alerted about the icon's whereabouts by an informer who saw the singer with it on a Dutch TV show last November. Boy George, who said he was unaware of the icon's history when he bought it, personally handed the icon over to Bishop Porfyrios in London on Tuesday. In retur...

The Lincoln county war happened a long time ago, it was a range war. William Bonney the a teenager became entangled in it when his boss John Tunstall, a rancher who Billy admired was assassinated in front of him. He thus became a combatant with a chip on his shoulder and more blood was spilled. In an attempt to end hostilities Billy was offered amnesty along with other minor protagonists, an offer he accepted but one which was not honored - he escaped and was tracked down by Pat Garret in 1881 and that was the end of that. But apparently there has been a move to have him pardoned, the point of which escapes me, he'll still be dead and nothing will change what happened in those long off days. Anyway good old Governor Richardson of New Mexico found he had bought into a controversy he doesn't need and has decided the Pardon will not be forthcoming Here is Ry Cooder's very fine version of the Billy the Kid song. If you haven't heard it before you'll eith...